About a mile to the west of the Tati station, on the summit of a hill about 200 feet above the river, are some very interesting remains of an ancient fort, built of hewn stone. The outer walls, now standing, are four feet in height, with two courses running the whole length, about half-way up, with five regular courses between, built in the herring-bone fashion, similar to those in old Roman walls now preserved in England. These stones are very thin, not much thicker than common tiles; the other courses have stones in regular layers, three inches deep and about a foot in length. This wall is two feet thick, and encloses a space of about half an acre. The floor originally was concrete; large portions still remain, and nearly in the centre are portions of small furnaces for melting metal. At the south-west corner of this enclosure are several rooms, with walls dividing them seven feet in height. In the eastern room the walls are twenty feet high, and it appears to have been a tower, leaving a space of some four feet between the outer and inner wall; and, when in a perfect state, it must have been a strong place, of defence, standing, as it does, on the topmost ridge of the hill, overlooking the river and surrounding country. There is no evidence of any mortar being used; mud may have been a substitute, and from time to time been washed away. Trees are growing in many of these rooms of considerable size, as also bushes. This being a favourite lurking-place for lions, I had to explore it with a rifle in one hand, and book and rod in the other. It is a most interesting ruin and well constructed, evidently the work of a white race. There are no Kaffir tribes in this part of Africa or south that have ever been known to build their kraals square or with hewn stone. Other ancient and similar ruins are still preserved beyond these diggings higher up the river, the walls also square and fifteen feet in height. The country is dense bush, with fine timber. Lignum-vitae trees abound; the wood when cut is black and white, very hard, and used for waggon desselbooms and axles. It has been known to last almost as long as iron.
The Tati station is the only white man’s station between Ba-Mangwato and Gubuluwayo, the Matabele king’s military kraal. It is distant from the former 169 miles, and from the latter 126 miles. A few stores were opened by English traders, to supply the Bushmen who brought ostrich feathers for sale (but if known by the Matabele people they would have been killed), and also travellers and hunters passing up and down from the interior, as it is situated on the main and only transport road to that country. The range of mountains, “Mopolo,” forming the watershed above mentioned, averages in height 4320 feet above sea-level, there are some parts nearly 5000; it is of granite formation. Along some of the rivers, already described, may be seen some fine slate rocks.
The natives procure very fine gold-dust from the sand in some of the river-beds, and sell it. They preserve it in the quill of a feather from the wing of a vulture, where they deposit it for safety. Every kind of game is found in this region, but it is becoming more scarce every year. This part is known as the Makalakaland. Quartz intersects the country in several parts, and is rich in gold.
There are many military posts on the slopes of the watershed down to Makobi’s outpost, on the Mpakwe river, which is the frontier outpost, where all travellers and hunters have to stop, to obtain permission to enter the country before proceeding. On the arrival of any stranger, a messenger is sent to the king, and if he objects, he has to turn back, and if allowed to proceed, two Matabele warriors from the regiment stationed there take charge of the visitor, and conduct him to his majesty, who inquires his business, so that no one is allowed to enter his territory without his knowledge. Although the Matabele country comes down to the Shasha river, no one occupies that district, except a few wandering Bushmen, south of the military post at Makobi’s.
There are many ancient forts similar to those at and near the Tati, the ruins of which are still to be seen on commanding positions, but none of any great extent; a garrison of 100 men would be as many as could occupy them. Most of them are so concealed from view by trees and bush, that it is by mere accident they are discovered. I once outspanned in the centre of one without knowing it, thinking it an old Kaffir kraal, until my attention was called to the peculiar form of the stonework of hewn stone, and the square rooms.
At the Mpakwe river near the south side of the drift, and twenty-nine miles north from the Tati river, is another very interesting ruin, built of cut granite with regular courses, each stone nearly the same size, and regularly jointed. The walls are ten feet high, and two feet thick. The interior was a smooth granite concrete floor, and contained burnt earth similar to bricks, in great quantities. That portion facing the river was divided into several rooms. At the main entrance within the building is a small kind of sentry-box commanding the opening, capable of holding only two persons.
The situation is commanding, and must have been, when perfect, capable of holding out against an enemy. There is another very good specimen of these ancient forts a short distance from the Camarlo drift, on the river Umfulamokokgumala, which is a branch of the Mapui, that falls into the Gwaii, a tributary of the Zambese; this drift is on the topmost ridge of the watershed of the Mopolo, at an elevation of 4360 feet above sea-level.
The fort is 110 feet square, with rounded corners. In the centre is a fort thirty-five feet square, with walls two feet thick. All of them have large bushes growing in and through the walls. There are many other ancient forts similar in construction to those described in this region, and also many more to the east, within the southern division of Lo-Bengulu’s territory, and within the Limpopo basin.
Sixty-three miles north of the Tati gold-fields, on the transport road, is Lee’s farm, situated on the Mpakwe river, a branch of the Shasha, a grant of land which Lee obtained many years ago from the king Umseligasi, or better known as Moselikatze, the dreaded chief. It is situated a few miles south of Manyami’s outpost, on the south slope of the Matoppo mountain, the western spur of the Mopolo range. Lee, on his father’s side, is English, but he has married into a Boer family, and has great influence with Lo-Bengulu.
Sixty-three miles north of Lee’s farm is the great military station of Lo-Bengulu, situated on the summit of the watershed named Gubuluwayo or Gibbeklaik, a strong and well-laid-out town on the summit of a low hill; the king’s houses and his cattle kraal being in the centre, surrounded by strong fencing, leaving an open space, round which the town is built. It will be more particularly described in another chapter, as it belongs more to the Zambese basin.